2022-23 Section 70 Weights and Measures Report Published
OPSS publishes the 2022-23 Section 70 Weights and Measures report as Official Statistics.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has, today, published the 2022-23 Section 70 Weights and Measures report.
Read the Section 70 Weights and Measures report 2022-2023
Under Section 70 of the Weights and Measures Act 1985, Local Weights and Measures Authorities (LWMAs) in Great Britain have a statutory duty to report to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade the level of local Weights and Measures enforcement work conducted over a twelve-month period.
This report summarises data from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 with comparisons made to the previous year. It outlines where the majority of activity has taken place and highlights the main concerns which have been raised, to assist with prioritisation of weights and measures regulatory activity.
The information should not be used to compare LWMAs, due to differing resourcing and prioritisation between different authorities.
The main points of the report are:
- The overall number of inspections has largely increased in recent years following a decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversely the number of inspectors active in legal metrology work has been relatively flat in recent years but is lower than it was ten years ago.
- The equipment with the highest rates of having the verification mark removed in 2022 to 2023 were Weighbridges and Liquid Fuel Tanker Meter Measuring Systems (LFTMMSs)
- Between 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023, the overall proportion of business compliant on first inspection increased by four percentage points (from 77% to 81%), and the proportion of businesses assisted into compliance decreased by six percentage points (from 22% to 16%).
- In 2022 to 2023 there were 771 local weights and measures inspectors, equivalent to 198.1 Full Time Equivalents working on metrology. The overall trend shows a decrease in total numbers of inspectors (-26% since 2012 to 2013).